


Take Apart These Precious Bones

by DroppedAllTheseOreos



Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: Castlevania AU, M/M, Mention of Parasitic Worms, Slow Burn, Some Descriptions of Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2020-06-27 17:46:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19795888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DroppedAllTheseOreos/pseuds/DroppedAllTheseOreos
Summary: Graphite, heir to the Dracula bloodline and all the powers that come with it, gets the most unusual visitor to his castle one night. He’s forced to let him stay because of some dumb vampire, cursed lord of darkness rules or something. He’s not really sure of the details, but Poppy probably knows. She actually paid attention when humans banished their castle to a pocket dimension within a lunar eclipse.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an extended universe of [the fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19936897) I wrote that was inspired by the Halloween Special of the Adventure Zone: here
> 
> I love the overall aesthetic of the Castlevania games so that's one of the main driving forces behind this fic being written. I don't know much about general vampire lore and I've only played a few Castlevania games and all of them just happened to be the ones that either didn't have Dracula as the main villain or a protagonist that wasn't a Belmont, so I don't really know the main plot of Castlevania either. So a lot of this is me just making things as I go along and filling in gaps with my knowledge from the Sorrow games and Order of Ecclesia.
> 
> Still, despite my lack of knowledge, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Title is lyrics from Celestial Bodies ft. Jovani Occomy by GHOST DATA

Graphite had just been minding his own business in the castle library when a skeleton warrior came rattling up to him. Through a series of clacks and pantomime, they informed him of a strange intruder to the castle. He followed them back to the entrance, where there indeed was a young man, holding the doors shut with his back. Pounding and shouts Graphite recognized as an angry mob could be heard outside and he sighed. He nodded to the skeleton, and they clacked happily, dashing down the stairs and signaling to their friends skulking in the shadows. All of them charged the door, startling a noise from the man as they crashed through the windows to the entrance hall.

He seemed to just realize he had company and looked up at Graphite with a stunned expression. The vampire made his way down the stairs to his strange guest.

"H-Hey." The man stuttered when they were face to face.

Graphite blinked. "Hey to you as well?" He said, disbelief tinging his words. He was used to humans greeting him with lengthy speeches or annoyingly reverent praise. He'd never gotten a simple "hey" in all his years since he'd become a vampire.

He observed the visitor. As the skeleton said, they were weird. Usually, the castle was able to move to Earth when it was summoned by particularly evil humans wanting to harness the powers of darkness. They usually never lasted long in the castle before succumbing to some kind of curse and becoming monsters themselves. Or they were quickly taken out by monster hunters or self-proclaimed heroes.

But this man, he didn't seem to be here with any intent at all. He seemed very confused, to be honest. And the strangeness didn't end there. Part of his face looked like it didn't belong. The patch of skin started at his temple and stretched down in a jagged path towards his nose. It followed the curve of his cheekbones back into his hairline. It was much paler than what seemed to be his actual skin tone. And it even had a smattering of freckles unlike the rest of his face. He carried the scent of death with him but was living from what Graphite could tell. The white smock he wore was something Graphite had seen before in medical practice, and he assumed the man must've been some kind of doctor.

"Who are you?" He growled, leaning in to be heard over the clacking of skeletons and screams of townspeople outside.

The man smiled nervously. "Kiriya. I'm... the local mortician?"

...

"So, you're saying you didn't do any rituals or sacrifices to get here?" Poppy leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and folding her hands to cover her face.

The witch was Graphite's closest companion and often conducted interrogations. Her abilities to make truth serums came in handy, and if she was short on ingredients, she found that intimidation or force with the help of her pets worked just as well.

The mortician didn't seem put off by the various deadly plants that surrounded him or the looming, shadowy figure of Graphite in the corner of the room behind her. "Yeah. I just got run out of town and was escaping through the forest. I stumbled on the front doors and let myself in." He shrugged. "The castle just..." he shrugged, making some searching gestures like he was trying to find his words, "appeared. So, I've got about just as much of an idea of what's going on as you."

Poppy's brows furrowed, and her plants hissed threateningly, writhing like a nest of angry snakes. "Why were you run out of town?"

Kiriya shrugged. "Witchcraft accusations probably. Anyone who deals in death for their job isn't looked at with the most... um... trust, these days?"

She nodded in agreement. She'd found herself in a similar situation decades ago, but she was actually a witch. By all accounts, he just seemed like a normal man with a strange patch of discolored skin. Sometimes that was enough to get rumors spreading, but it still didn't explain why the castle appeared to him.

She lowered her hands, expression sympathetic. "Sorry if this is a sensitive subject for you, but will you tell me about that strange patch of skin on your face?"

He chuckled. "Ah yeah. It's a skin graft. The doctor that was treating me just happened to have a recently deceased patient and decided to graft their skin over the burn rather than use my own."

"So, you're not any kind of undead?"

"You can check my pulse if you want." He offered a wrist forward. He was taking all of this surprisingly well.

Poppy placed her fingers at Kiriya's pulse point, and Graphite leaned in, curious. She turned back to him and nodded. He was alive.

She sighed. "Well, what should we do with him?"

Graphite quirked an eyebrow at him. "The castle's probably already back in the moon since he didn't want us for some apocalypse, bathing the world in darkness plot. We'll have to keep him until the next fool comes around that summons us—"

"This place is in the moon?" Kiriya stood up excitedly, the plants screeched and wrapped around him.

"Hey! Down!" Poppy barked at them.

Once they got him untangled from the plants and settled him back in his chair, they both shot pointed looks at him.

"Do you really not know where you are?" Poppy grimaced.

"No," Kiriya stressed. "Like I said, I was just running from the town, and it just appeared when I took a wrong turn in the forest."

Poppy turned in her chair, smiling sarcastically. "You wanna do the honors, boss?"

Graphite smirked, stepping up to the table and looming over the mortician. "This is my castle."

"And you are?" the human shot back.

"Dracula." He smirked, bowing deep and sweeping his cape out.

The look of shock and distress that took over the human's face was well worth the dramatics.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kiriya acclimates to life at the castle and discovers Poppy's hedge maze. Graphite wants a break.

Kiriya took to everything quite well after the initial shock. He'd been through a lot in just a few hours. Getting chased out of his old life must've already been a horrible experience. But on top of that, he was trapped in a magical castle, surrounded by monsters and other creatures of the dark. The initial shock had lasted a few days.

Now that he was done cowering in the room they'd lent him, he stumbled out and started roaming the castle. It might've partially been out of survival instinct rather than finally getting the courage to explore. Kiriya hadn't eaten once he holed himself up in the room. But Graphite and Poppy did what they could, Kiriya just wouldn't open the door when either of them sent a skeleton to his room with meals. The one that climbed up the castle wall to deliver the meal tray through the window probably wasn't helpful to Kiriya's anxious state. They couldn't blame him for being scared, but they did start pounding on his door on the second day out of concern which might've worsened his fear, just a bit.

Graphite denied his relieved sigh when Kiriya finally showed his face, amiably chatting with a harpy when he woke up on the third night of the human's stay. Poppy teased him endlessly for it, however. Before Kiriya went to sleep for the night, Graphite gave him a quick rundown that he could explore as he wished, but to just make sure to be aware and careful of where he went. And Kiriya took it to heart. But only the first part, apparently.

He wasn't a prisoner, but Graphite was tempted to make him one and lock his room while he was asleep for all the trouble Kiriya would get himself into. He regretted using the phrase, "make yourself at home" during his explanation, because Kiriya was far too comfortable in everything he did from then on. Graphite and Poppy had pulled him out of various traps intended for vampire hunters and the mouths of different creatures dwelling in dark corners at least twelve times within moments of Graphite waking up on the fourth night of Kiriya's stay. Well, not really, but it felt that way.

The human was curious to a fault, and in a way, kind of ballsy. Graphite would appreciate it if Kiriya would just not get in trouble for five minutes at least. He and Poppy were still wary of the human's mysterious arrival, so they just observed for any other weird happenings. They also considered he might be pretending to be innocent, and just waiting to see if he could trust them before revealing his grand scheme to cover the world in darkness or whatever. But after almost a month into his stay, Poppy was convinced that he was genuinely a lost human. All the bumbling around, needing to be saved from pits of spikes or the mouths of demons was pretty convincing. It was odd territory, and Graphite wasn't ready to trust him yet, not that he trusted humans at all, so they agreed to keep a close watch.

'Not close enough.' Graphite thought as he stalked across the courtyard into the gardens in hot pursuit of the human.

They had taken their eyes off him for a second, and he already disappeared. It was a common occurrence at this point. He wasn't intentionally causing problems for them, but the second something mildly new or exciting caught his attention, he'd suddenly wander off, forcing the vampire or witch to scramble after him. He discovered rooms Poppy had never seen before and ones Graphite had forgotten about. Once Kiriya found his first secret passage, he seemed determined to tap on every single brick in the castle until he'd found them all.

But that was before he realized the castle had an outside area, too. Poppy's hedge maze was chaotic and sprawling, but well maintained and cared for, her pride and joy. It was also the perfect thing to draw Kiriya's attention away from the castle and all of its dangers. But now he was in a place where he'd likely get lost forever or eaten by a carnivorous plant. Graphite had half a mind to burn it down to the ground if it meant he could find the stupid human already and lock him away somewhere safe, Poppy's wrath be damned.

He had better things to do with his time, and he'd rather just leave Kiriya to his fate. But Poppy needed to run tests on him to see if the castle was malfunctioning and they were going to get an influx of regular, confused humans, or if he was an outlier. Also, burning it wouldn't be much help since Poppy incorporated underground passageways for her bioluminescent plant collection. If Kiriya found one of those, he might be long gone from the gardens already and back in the castle. Which is why Poppy was already crawling around in them just to make sure he wasn't down there when they noticed him heading for the gardens.

Graphite hoped Poppy wouldn't be too mad about having to go through her tunnels for nothing since he managed to find the human soon after entering the maze. Graphite continued to follow the flutters of white he caught around corners formed by wild tangles of vining plants and vibrant flowers.

He didn't call out to Kiriya, just tailed, not wanting to deal with the human any more than he had to. Graphite noticed the plants starting to grow thinner, more of the night sky visible through twisting vines and tree branches. He looked to the human, exasperated that he wasn't paying attention, and prepared himself for disaster to strike at any moment.

Kiriya seemed to be enjoying the view of the stars and wasn't keeping an eye on the ground, where an exposed root literally caught his foot. As he passed it by, it ripped itself from the soil, spraying dirt and fallen leaves everywhere, wrapping around the human's leg. A bulbous head made up of veiny leaves, and thick, glossy, pink flower petals emerged from a dense wall of bushes. Before Graphite could do anything, it hoisted Kiriya in the air and shrieked horribly. The bud-like head bloomed to reveal thorns arranged in rows like teeth and lashing purple tongues, spraying goopy, sap-like saliva everywhere.

They both cringed at the noise, and taking advantage of their stunned states, it threw Kiriya, sending him crashing through a thin layer of vines making up the opposite wall. Graphite rushed forward and grabbed him by the scruff of his surgical gown. It was only then that Graphite took stock of where the human was about to fall. A straight drop, hurtling straight out of the castle's atmosphere to either suffocate in space or burn up in earth's atmosphere. He wasn't sure which would happen, he'd never seen a reason to drop anything off the side of the castle and watch what happened to it. But he didn't want to start now, though he was tempted, and yanked the human back, tossing him aside into the dirt. The plant seemingly retreated for now, but Graphite kept its hiding place in his periphery as he glared Kiriya down.

"Thanks for—"

Graphite cut off the human's thanks with a quickly raised hand.

" _Don't_. Just. Explore with a guide from now on."

Instead of indignation or disgust at being followed, the human just smiled. "I knew you were looking out for me, Dracula. I'm flattered, honestly."

Graphite just rolled his eyes and gestured to the gaping hole in Poppy's hedge maze. "No more of _this_. We clear?"

The human got to his feet, waltzing into Graphite's personal space and raising his head to meet his eyes with a smug grin.

"Crystal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon Castlevania monsters? Beyond skeleton warrior and bone dragon, what are those?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kiriya makes friends (and temporary enemies) and Graphite helps set up a laboratory for him

Kiriya eventually proved himself useful, once his curious, exploratory phase of getting used to the castle was finally over. Both Graphite and Poppy had never been so relieved or exhausted in the last three months. His paltry medical training seemed to pay off. He was proficient in helping out with minor injuries, as the werewolves were wont to do with each other in friendly spars. And some of the zombies took to him well, wanting to be embalmed or have their makeup done once Kiriya got it through their rotting brains what his job was.

He was kind of a chatterbox. He'd often follow creatures or people that caught his attention around and ask them all sorts of questions. Or, if they couldn't speak in a way he'd understand, he came running to Poppy or Graphite with the monster in tow asking for a way to translate. The only reason the castle residents didn't brush him off immediately because he turned out to be as good a listener as he was a talker.

Once the monster started talking, he kept silent save for noises of acknowledgment or empathy made at the right times, and maintained eye contact, except with the gorgons, of course. But most of the monsters appreciated someone who didn't shrink away. He was straightforward, asked what he was curious about and made sure to take note of what questions caused offense. And with that information, he either asked for clarification or never brought it up again. The first time he had a monster chasing him down the halls must've put it in sharp perspective to be wary. Kiriya still messed up whenever he met with a species he was unfamiliar with, but at least they could see he was trying hard.

"He's fast." Poppy commented one day as they watched him dash down into the basement. A small group of banshees was hot on his heels, howling at him as he covered his ears with a panicked expression.

Graphite just hummed and nodded.

"Runs a little weird." Poppy leaned over and muttered.

And as he looked at the disappearing figure, Graphite noticed the strange way his leg would recoil after hitting the ground. The man seemed to be favoring his right side. He initially wondered if the human was injured on the left, but this looked more like the right was just, heavier. Graphite didn't have any other way to describe it.

Poppy tilted her head and pouted when she realized he was gone and couldn't observe him again. They just shrugged and let it go.

Somehow, in the midst of all this interviewing and pulling him out of danger, Kiriya grew close to Poppy. Graphite would almost be worried about losing his right-hand woman to a human if he didn't trust their friendship as much as he did. Like Kiriya, she was curious and happy to help where she could, and her brightness was a nice contrast to his generally chill demeanor. They made an excellent mentor-student pair as the human continued his interviews with all the life and un-life he could find in the castle. Poppy joked to him one day that he should make a compendium of all the castle residents. But Kiriya took it seriously, immediately running to Graphite and asking for medical equipment and paper. Lots and lots of paper.

They ended up giving him a spare room in the dungeon to turn into a lab. It was meager and small, but with the single shelf of medical equipment and a desk full of writing supplies, he seemed overjoyed. Graphite wondered what the squeezing feeling around his heart at the human's excited smile was. He wrote it off as relief he didn't have to worry about Kiriya's health anymore and Poppy would finally be able to figure out what was up with him.

...

Graphite found himself visiting with the human often after he set up shop in the dungeon. He wasn't sure why he came down there all the time, but he figured it was because it was something new to do. Most of his visits consisted of asking what Kiriya was up to, and after some, lengthy, excited explanations, he would take note of anything the human was low on. Most often, it was paper and ink, so he made sure to have someone bring that down weekly.

Poppy was also there, more often than not, hovering over his work, sometimes literally on her broom. Most times they'd be deep in conversation. They'd spare a few glances and greetings towards Graphite before Poppy would continue describing a specific potion component or spell, Kiriya furiously writing it all down. Other times he'd watch as a zombie hobbled down the stairs and bumped up against Kiriya. Once they had the human's attention, they'd jerkily thrust makeup items or bottles of formaldehyde at him. Kiriya would laugh and make them take a seat as he continued conversing with Poppy.

He'd carefully apply eyeliner to his guest or lay them out on his worktable to open them up and embalm them. Meanwhile, Poppy took a new sheet of paper to write notes on the conversation he'd miss. She'd also conjure books from the library, writing down titles and page numbers for him to brush up later.

Graphite had never seen a human that was so unafraid of the castle residents besides the vampire hunters that would come to destroy him whenever they were summoned to earth. And even then, Graphite had seen the fear in their eyes as they struck down werewolves, demons, and fish people. All they were in the eyes of humans was a common enemy, something to be feared and destroyed. But whenever Kiriya looked at them, his eyes never reflected disgust. Fear sometimes, when he realized he fucked up and needed to run. Otherwise, they were alive with all kinds of emotions. Something Graphite hadn't seen in decades.

When he brought this up to Poppy later, she grinned at him slyly, hinting that might be the reason kept Graphite came down to the lab he denied it outright. He definitely didn't keep coming because he wanted to see that light in the human's eyes, contrary to Poppy's sly grins and eyebrow wiggles. But he would admit it did make Kiriya stand out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The castle ghosts attempt to pull a prank on Kiriya and discover a weird property of his body

When Graphite walked into the lab, he didn't want to know. He really, really didn't want to know when he was greeted with a drawn-out "Heyyyy Draaac, how's it goooing?" and a shocked noise followed by "Wait, she calls you Drac?"

He pointedly ignored Kiriya and his conversational companion of the night in favor of beelining towards Poppy just to be near a source of sanity. He tried to assure himself he didn't want to know, but his mouth beat his brain to the punch, and he found himself asking what was going on. Before the question entirely left his mouth, he was promptly shushed by Poppy as she dragged him to the far corner of the room. Now that Kiriya was more comfortable with all of them, she'd started running tests on Kiriya. And that comfort level looked like it also extended to introducing him to her girlfriend.

"Okay, I know it's weird, but the ghosts are all doing a thing and trying to prank Kiriya."

Graphite looked towards Kiriya's desk where he was confusedly watching the ghost of a woman about his age pose and flicker in and out of view like ghosts from human bedtime stories as she talked with him. She wore midnight blue, backless dress that would've reached her ankles if her body didn't cut off and turn into wispy, spectral smoke at her knees. Worn and battered silvery armor covered her arms and what was visible of her legs, while a tasset belt made of big, scale plates protected her hips. A cute blue ribbon tied in a bow around her throat both threw off and somehow rounded out the look, hanging over a breastplate in a similar condition to the rest of her armor. Her hair was long and black, falling in soft curls down over her shoulders and back. Exposed skin and light red tattoos were somewhat visible through the curtain of thick hair.

"Sooooo, hooow did you get heereee?" the ghost intoned.

"Do you have to talk like that?" Kiriya seemed skeptical of her attempt to sound like a stereotypical ghost. But it was tinged with his usual quizzical look in his eyes. Graphite fought the urge to growl out a sigh and mess up the whole ruse, but he was quite sure Kiriya was actually buying it.

"Weeeellll, let me tryyyy..." She took a moment, making a show of clearing her throat. "Heeeey... Nooope. It's juuuust gonna coooomee out this wayyy..." She could barely keep the smirk off her face, how was she so bad at this.

"They've all been talking... Like that. To him..." Poppy mumbled. "She told me not to interfere with it. They want to see how long they can string him along."

Graphite sighed heavily. "Can I assume your dear Saki is the mastermind behind all this?"

Poppy pressed her lips together a little embarrassedly and nodded. "Well, her and a few others."

"Satsuki and Mizuki?" Graphite deadpanned.

Poppy hiding her face in her hands was all he needed to know.

"Ow!" Saki suddenly exclaimed, turning both their attentions to her again.

The ghost was holding her hand as if it had been burned, frowning at Kiriya warily over her shoulder. The human was wide-eyed and had taken a few steps back. He looked visibly shaken and was absentmindedly rubbing at his collarbone as if it was aching.

"What the hell?" she exclaimed, but then she quickly clapped her uninjured hand over her mouth, expression panicked.

Ghosts in all kinds of adventurer's gear seemed to pour from every surface in the lab. They rose from the floor, seeped in through the walls and popped out of books or the ceiling.

"SAKI!" They all shouted in dismay.

Various cries of "You ruined it!" "We were really convincing him!" and "Saki what the hell?" Rose out of the crowd of specters as they gathered around her.

"Hold on, everyone, we need to talk." She shouted over the din.

Saki wrapped her arm around a woman in a red wool suit with fancy blue embroidery and brown hair, catching another woman with black hair and a short blue, lacy cape with the other hand, dragging them away. Still shouting and complaining, the crowd of ghosts followed her. Some of them passed through Kiriya and suddenly shuddered, their image turning staticky and fading for a moment. The human cringed when they did; as if the contact hurt him. They'd stare at each other confusedly for a moment before the ghost was rushing to the head of the group to whisper something with Saki. She had a small circle around her by the time they finally disappeared into the wall at the end of the dungeon row.

Kiriya slowly turned to Poppy and Graphite in their secluded corner of the lab.

"Okay, what the hell was that?"

Poppy looked increasingly worried and dashed out of the room after the group. Whatever happened with the ghosts when they touched Kiriya was suspicious, and she must've been concerned for Saki. Kiriya and Graphite were left staring at each other awkwardly.

Graphite sighed heavily, pinching at his brow before speaking. "Sit down, I'll explain." He gestured to Kiriya's chair, conjuring one for himself when he reached the desk.

The human shakily took a seat hand over his heart like he was trying to keep it from falling out of his chest. Graphite narrowed his eyes warily at it. There was much more to this human than what he could see, and he wouldn't drop his guard. No matter how endearing the action was.

"Okay, first important question."

Graphite raised an eyebrow curiously. Kiriya leaned forward solemnly before a conspiratorial grin spread over his face.

"Can I call you Drac, too?"

"No."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppy's overprotective girlfriend mode is activated and she takes way too many blood samples off Kiriya

Graphite smelled the blood before he even got to the lab, but he instantly knew something was wrong. He rushed the rest of the way down to the dungeons and burst through the door. To his surprise, Kiriya was talking with Poppy amiably, but he seemed a little dazed. He was rambling on about edible flowers rather than something vaguely scientific with his usual clear focus and sharp wit.

The only other thing that seemed out of place was the fact that Poppy had one of his arms in her grasp and in her other, a little jar, slowly filling with the human's blood. The feeling of something being 'out of place' in the lab, quickly turned into creeping dread as Graphite's eyes roved over the workbench. One of Poppy's fancy sacrificial daggers was sitting on the table, soaked. Around it was a small, tacky puddle on the work table, surrounded by vials, also filled.

It took a few moments for Kiriya to register what was going on, but he smiled brightly and waved, "Hey Drac..."

Heavens, he was out of it, Poppy might've given him something for the pain.

"Poppy," He greeted in a tone that was borderline a warning. "What are you doing to the human?"

"Whatever happened with Saki and the other ghosts was suspicious. And we were supposed to test him anyway, so I'm taking blood samples."

Graphite bit his lip nervously. Poppy was in her "protective girlfriend" mode and she was draining blood from Kiriya like he intentionally harmed Saki. It was terrifying how quickly her stance on a person could shift, and Graphite was grateful he had a claim to, "second best friend after Saki" in the witch's heart.

"I distinctly recall Saki using the words 'a minor shock' and 'if you experiment on him today, please go easy.'" He reminded, cautious not to make direct eye contact, lest he seem threatening.

Poppy didn't even look up as her fingers tightened down in a bruising grip on Kiriya's arm. "She could've disappeared if she touched him more. Some of the others that passed through him talked about feeling like they saw the light or were fading away when they made contact."

Graphite held his hands up in surrender, backing up a step, completely done. He couldn't talk this out safely with her like this, and that was an extremely suspicious thing to happen. Ghosts shouldn't pass onto the next plane just from passing through a human. Poppy's new suspicion and rage was justified, but draining him of all his blood might've been going too far.

Kiriya would just have to make do on his own. Hopefully, she didn't take anymore, the human was looking a little pale.

Just as he made that observation, Kiriya collapsed, the only thing saving him from crashing to the ground was Graphite dashing to catch him. Poppy sure as hell wasn't going to.

"Poppy!" Graphite yelled.

He looked back up at her and she was staring at all the vials filled with Kiriya's blood, stricken. Like she was only now realizing how much she'd taken. Poppy must've been so far gone to not have realized how much damage she was doing, normally she was so deliberate about things like this. Graphite had seen her angry before, but never to the point where she lost control.

She looked like she was still processing, so Graphite was on his own.

He swiped one of the bottles from the table rearranged himself and Kiriya to sit as comfortably as possible on the floor. He ran a hand over the open gash running down Kiriya's forearm, sealing it with a quick healing spell. He propped Kiriya up in one arm, positioning him so his neck was easily accessible.

Graphite took a deep breath before taking a swig from the bottle. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd done this before. He lowered his mouth to Kiriya's neck, piercing the artery and sealing his lips over the wound. Shoving his long, thin tongue into the artery Graphite slowly dribbled the blood back into it, his saliva thinning out the blood so it flowed more easily.

He kept doing this until the whole bottle had been drained. While they were on the floor, Poppy snapped out of her daze and jumped to action, opening her overcoat and grabbing a vial from one of the many holsters sewn into the lining. While Graphite was taking another drink of blood, Poppy forced her potion down Kiriya's throat. The human shifted in Graphite's arms, seemingly coming to enough to swallow the potion. Kiriya's breath hitched as Graphite put his mouth to the artery again.

With Kiriya recovered enough that they didn't have to worry about it, Graphite and Poppy slumped where they sat. Poppy conjured a glass of water and handed it to Graphite to help Kiriya drink, while she performed a quick healing spell where Graphite pierced his neck.

Graphite sighed. "I'm sitting in next time you experiment on the human."

Poppy nodded dejectedly. "That's fair."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like after writing this chapter I need a "I googled "can vampires rehydrate you?" and all I got were these how to obtain human blood and vampire erotica results" shirt.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kiriya and Graphite banter a bit about first names and rights to know them

"So, what's your first name?"

"What?"

Kiriya made some notes, unwrapping a string from the head of the nominon he was working with.

"You heard me, first name.

He measured the string with a meter stick he kept handy, then wrapped it around the monster's veiny, reddish-orange head again, right above its eye. He was looking much better compared to the scare they had a few weeks ago. The long scar up his right forearm from Poppy's sacrificial dagger was still a faint red. She apologized, and Kiriya had accepted it easily. Almost too easily, but Graphite figured they were eager to move past it.

Kiriya laughed easily while accepting her apology. "You were scared of what happened with Saki and the other ghosts. Fear makes people do drastic things. I'm just glad you rushed to help once you realized. If you didn't, we'd be having a totally different conversation right now."

Of course, that hadn't sat well with Poppy. They were still arguing about each other's views on self-worth to this day if Graphite heard right.

Kiriya dropped the string, and the nominon's piercing green eye looked around excitedly, reaching up with their thin tentacles to fiddle with it. He thanked them for the measurements and whatever other poking and prodding he'd been doing to the creature with head pats. They gurgled and trilled happily, the bell shape of their main body jiggled with the noise before they floated away.

"I don't see why this is relevant." Graphite crossed his arms.

"There's no way Dracula's your first name. Wasn't it a whole family line or something?" He continued as he moved to his work table to organize his notes.

"Yes, but even so, what makes you think you have the right to know my name?" Graphite smirked.

"C'mon, I gave you mine, Drac!"

"Yes, willingly. So, I don't have to reciprocate. I haven't even given you permission to call me Drac."

Kiriya snorted. "I was being held at poisonous, living plant point when I did. I don't think it's very fair to say I _willingly_ gave you my name."

"True. Since you don't have permission to call me Drac, you can keep calling me that and we'll call it even."

The wide smirk on Kiriya's face told Graphite he'd just handed what Kiriya wanted on a silver platter.

Rolling his eyes, mostly at himself, he tried to backpedal, "You could ask Poppy for it if you'd like. Since you seem to be back on good terms."

"I could, but it's still awkward, y'know? I think we need to give it some more time before we can go around asking each other for stuff again. Saki's been helping sort through all awkward, though. She's great." He didn't wait for a response as he steamrolled on. "So just give me your name?"

Graphite remained impassive, trying to fight the playful smirk pulling at his lips.

"Draaaac..." Kiriya whined.

Seems like even he wasn't above shameful tactics to get what he wanted.

"I already gave you permission to call me Drac and you still want more. You're such a greedy human." He shrugged.

"I'm on a quest for knowledge," Kiriya continued to pout at him with crocodile tears welling up in his eyes. "Is that such a crime?"

Graphite decided not to give that a response.

They continued sitting there in silence as Kiriya leaned more and more into his space. Graphite shuffled back and pointedly looked away, but Kiriya pursued, climbing onto the table and kneeling on it until they were almost nose to nose.

"Fine. I'll make a deal with you if you back up."

With a victorious laugh, Kiriya leaned back and jumped off the table and into his seat. He rested his chin in his hands, leaning forward excitedly.

"I'll tell you my name, but you'll owe me a favor later on. I don't have anything I want from you now, but I'm sure I'll figure something out."

"I'm all ears, Drac."

He sighed deeply, trying to steel himself for the reaction he'd get.

"It's Graphite."

Instead of a mocking exclamation or a bout of giggles like he expected, he was just met with silence. He watched Kiriya's expression growing increasingly curious. His lips were parted slightly as his head lifted from his hands. Graphite caught Kiriya mouthing his name. As if he was rolling the feel of it around on his tongue, and Graphite's stomach did a flip.

Eventually, Kiriya smiled a little and nodded.

"Graphite. Nice to officially meet you."


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppy invites Graphite down to the garden maze for a talk about the blood samples she took from Kiriya.

"So, you know why I called you here." Poppy said instead of a greeting, brushing dirt and leaves from her skirt as she stood.

"Yeah, the human's not too keen on coming here after nearly dying." Graphite responded, tilting his head towards the still gaping hole in the hedge maze.

Strange, Poppy's garden tended to flourish under her careful watch and magic. It was unusual for the hole to still be there after so much time to grow back. Poppy might've had something planned for this section. Or Kiriya falling through it permanently damaged the hedge. It would make sense given what he could do to ghosts just passing through him. He waited for her to explain but she looked up towards the moon with a dreamy sigh.

"It turned out to be a nice view, no?"

Graphite looked out and pressed his lips into a thin line. He wasn't sure what this had to do with the human, but he had to admit it was picturesque. The night sky was always breathtaking from anywhere in the castle, but the added sights and scents of the plants framing the view and perfuming the cool night breeze were enjoyable additions.

"I'm thinking of making a little lookout deck here. It would be so romantic, wouldn't it? Surrounded by flowers and dancing under the stars." Poppy ran her hand along with the leaves of the nearest bush. The plants quivered under her touch and shrank back, and she pouted.

Graphite winced sympathetically, deciding to get them back on track before Poppy got too upset. "It would. But a lookout deck isn't why you called me here, yes? Also, wouldn't the big one...?"

Poppy scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I moved Juno after the last incident so we won't have to worry about her if anyone _in particular_ decides to use this space."

She leveled Graphite with a look and he nodded to let her go on. "Anyways, yes. The reason I called you down here is Kiriya, of course." She opened her overcoat and pulled a vial out, filled with a familiar deep red liquid. Poppy shook it a little before tossing it over to Graphite. "Look closely at it. I'm amazed you came out alright after spitting it back into him."

Graphite brought the bottle up to his eye and squinted. It was hard to make out at first, and he couldn't quite believe it when he saw it. There, in Kiriya's blood, little particulates, floating around and glittering under the moonlight.

"What..." Graphite mumbled, but he already knew the answer.

Poppy exhaled sharply. Her face was dour like she didn't want to believe it either.

"It's silver." Poppy shifted her stance uncomfortably. "Maybe you didn't notice because the silver was in such small quantities? It was only one vial you spat back into him, and it wasn't in contact with you for very long."

Graphite swallowed hard. The vial in his hand suddenly felt like it was burning through his skin. "This changes a lot."

"What do you wanna do about him, boss?"

"Ask him about it I guess."

Poppy blinked at him incredulously. "When did you get so soft?" Graphite scoffed, but she cut him off before he could rebuke. "Usually, we'd challenge him to a fight and kill him. And what would you ask him?" Her voice dropped down to mock Graphite's "'Oh hey Kiriya, did you intend to come here and walk around like a ticking _time bomb_ because your body is filled with a substance that's poison to half the people here, especially me?'" She pouted, "Oh yes, I'm sure that'll go over very well. You think he's gonna actually admit to something like that?"

Graphite squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to believe it either, but Kiriya did seem like he was still hiding something. When he first arrived, his smile was guarded. Cautious. But he appeared to have opened up over his stay and they wouldn't have to worry about his intentions anymore.

And Graphite hated to admit, but he'd grown far too attached.

He gritted his teeth as he inhaled slowly, glaring at the vial like if he tried hard enough it'd tell him the solution to this situation. The glittering particles floated gently in Kiriya's blood, almost mocking. Graphite felt like crushing it in his hand, silver burns be damned. Was Kiriya someone who could be a living weapon while pretending to cozy up to the targets he was aimed at? Graphite was starting to believe it.

"I'm sorry..." Poppy began. "I'll do more tests to see if I can glean any more information. Maybe I can figure out how he got that in his system in the first place."

Graphite blinked at her. "Wait. Maybe I _can_ just ask him. There's still the chance that someone else planted him."

Poppy's mouth fell open, and she grasped his hands. "You're saying--"

"I mean, I need to ask him first. He might not even know. But he's obviously been to a surgeon before because he has that skin graft. And if we can truly believe he wasn't the one who summoned the castle--"

"Then we finally have some clever fucking vampire hunters we're dealing with." Poppy finished with an excited grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally blanked on linking this in chapter 4 when Saki was introduced but I drew how she and Poppy generally look in this universe! Poppy has armor in this pic, but when she's not she has her Potions Coat™
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/OrangeCylon64/status/1170832788351664128?s=20) [Tumblr](https://orange-plague-cylon.tumblr.com/post/187603654847/a-little-messy-but-poppy-and-saki-from-a#notes) (just in case one or the other doesn't work)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kiriya does some experiments with one of the goopier castle residents and Graphite struggles to ask about the silver content levels of Kiriya's blood

The whole trip downstairs to the lab, Graphite agonized over how exactly to ask Kiriya about the silver in his blood. He was nowhere close to having any kind of solid opener by the time he was at the doorway. Figuring he might as well wing it, he walked on through the open door. As he entered, he saw Kiriya had his back turned and he seemed to be soaking wet. Before he could even greet the human, Kiriya started to strip off his medical smock, and Graphite recoiled, making a strangled noise. Kiriya turned to him, startled.

"Oh, hey Drac." His surprise quickly turned into a cheeky grin as he let the smock fall to the ground with a squelching slap, slime oozing off into a big puddle. "Nice time for you to drop in."

Graphite cleared his throat and fought the blush rising in his cheeks. Now that he was looking more closely, he noticed that the mortician wasn't exactly wet, but covered in a gooey, green-tinted liquid. It turned his skin shiny and slick in the candlelight. His undershirt was clinging to his skin from the moisture and translucent in places.

"What did you _do?"_ Graphite finally managed to ask.

Kiriya chuckled as he untucked the undershirt from his pants and pulled it over his head, throwing it to the ground with a wet _thwack._ "I wanted to talk with Keremet."

Graphite turned away to give Kiriya his privacy but sighed exasperatedly. "I can already imagine how it went."

"Yeah," Kiriya snorted. "He won't come out and talk unless you bang on the cauldron, but he gets pissed off when you do it, so I just kept knocking and observing and getting blasted with slime until I decided I had enough for the day."

Graphite heard another wet slapping sound and assumed Kiriya had dropped his pants on the floor as well.

"I'm probably going to have to go back tomorrow and try again because I didn't get everything I wanted out of him. And hey, Drac?"

"Yes?" Graphite said tensely.

"You can look, you know. I doubt I've got anything you haven't seen before."

"I'd rather give you your privacy, even if I have seen it."

Kiriya chuckled. His bare feet made sticky, wet slaps against the ground as he walked over to Graphite. "Would you escort me to the gardens since you're such a gentleman?" He said in an over-exaggerated formal tone.

Rolling his eyes, Graphite finally looked down at the human, and his breath caught in his throat.

Scars lined Kiriya's body all over. Graphite could immediately tell they weren't from combat. The cuts were too clean to have been made by any kind of blade other than a scalpel. And most importantly, they were at angles that Kiriya couldn't possibly reach on his own. They nearly had equal precision to the line of Poppy's knife down his forearm. Arms, legs, his whole torso were riddled with silvery lines.

Some looked like they might've gotten infected at some point, healing over as angry, pink lines, edges ragged. A few more skin grafts of varying skin tones covered part of Kiriya's ribs and thighs. Graphite was caught between pity for him and just staring in awe because Kiriya wore his skin with such pride; it was dazzling to look at in a sense. As he got over his shock, a plan quickly came to Graphite's mind. Kiriya still owed him a favor from that whole 'first name' thing. He could use it to ask about his scars and maybe lead into why his blood had silver in it. He just had to play his wording right or wait until he was distracted and working with a 'patient,' since Kiriya could be way too sharp--

"Hello, Drac?" Kiriya waved a hand in front of his face. "So you gonna take me out or what?"

Graphite blinked and responded without missing a beat. "What, literally or outside."

"The first one is preferable at this point, but I'd have regrets over the book, so I guess outside is the only option." He laughed.

Graphite tilted his head. "You don't have any other clothes?"

Kiriya shrugged and started walking out of the lab. "Not like I packed a bag to come here."

"True." Graphite grimaced as he followed. "Well, I guess I could find someone around your size and see if they can lend you clothes."

"Yeah," Kiriya gave Graphite a once over. "I think if I borrowed from you, everything would be a little too big."

Graphite rolled his eyes. "Astute observation."

"I try my best."

Kiriya led them out to the gardens and made his way to the well. He drew up the bucket, pouring water into his washbasin to soak his clothes. Once the basin was filled, Kiriya drew up the bucket one last time and dumped the water all over himself.

He shuddered violently at the coolness and let out a yelp, but the green slime washed off easily.

"Whoo," Kiriya exhaled sharply through chattering teeth. "I'm definitely getting more samples of this stuff. I thought it would take like, three more washes to get it off."

He turned to the washbasin and pulled his smock from the now goopy water. The green color had already lifted from the cloth, and the sludgy texture slid off easily, like oil and water sliding against each other. Kiriya blinked surprisedly and leaned in to smell it cautiously. His face scrunched up, and he jolted back.

"Yup. Still smells like rotten meat." He cringed. "Guess it makes sense since this stuff reacts with water like oil does." Kiriya shook his head, sighing, "The werewolves are gonna be all over me this week if they need to come in for something."

Graphite let out a chuckle but kept focused on the task at hand, figuring out how to bring up the favor. For now, he wanted to keep the idle banter up.

"I'm sure that'll be fun to watch."

Kiriya stuck his tongue out at Graphite and turned his focus back to the washbasin, pulling his clothes out and putting them into Graphite's arms. The vampire rolled his eyes but dutifully held the sopping wet clothes as Kiriya emptied the basin and refilled it with fresh water.

He took the clothes from Graphite and threw them back into the basin, kneeling to scrub at them in hopes of getting the smell out. Graphite watched him for a few moments, still struggling to think of a way to bring up Kiriya's scars when the human suddenly spoke up.

"You can ask about 'em, y'know."

"I'm sorry?"

Kiriya looked over his shoulder at Graphite, a smile on his face, but something about this one felt forced.

"My scars." He turned back to focus on his clothes. "As much as I wish you were checking me out for the past half hour, I'm pretty sure you've been staring at them."

"Was I that obvious?" Graphite scowled, mostly at himself for getting caught.

Kiriya let out a soft chuckle. "Yeah, I know it's only the reason anyone would look at me." He winked before turning back to his laundry.

Graphite was about to protest, but this was honestly the best time to bring it up. He walked to where Kiriya was crouched, kneeling so they could be eye level.

"Do you mind telling me about them?" He asked. "They seem like they trouble you, so I'm willing to cash in my favor for a story about one or two of them."

Kiriya looked up at him, shock clear in his expression. A hint of one of his beaming smiles pulled at the edges of his lips, but he quickly put that plastered grin in its place. He shrugged with one shoulder as he went back to scrubbing his clothes.

"Yeah, that sounds fair. You cashing in now or..."

Graphite snorted. "Maybe when you're less vulnerable and not about to catch a cold if you stay out here a second longer." He nudged Kiriya with an elbow. "C'mon inside. We can get you some soap for those at least, and find someone to lend you dry clothes."

Kiriya bit his lip, trying to hold back another grin. "Thanks, Graphite."

Graphite didn't say anything, but unhooked his cloak, wrapping it around Kiriya's shoulders before taking the basin from him and leading the way inside. Kiriya took a few moments to stand, but soon Graphite felt his warm presence by his side.

They walked in companionable silence a while before Kiriya spoke up. "You could've given me this sooner, y'know." He tugged the cloak around him tighter for emphasis.

Graphite snickered. "Maybe I wanted to watch you walk around naked for a while. You do have nice thighs, after all."

And for the first time since they met, Kiriya was stunned speechless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I imply that Kiriya has been walking around the castle naked to the well or a washroom if he needs to do laundry?
> 
> Yes, and it's usually during the day.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
